Isshin's Story
by fighting-dreamer179
Summary: Ichigo's father is also a shinigami. Why did he come to the real world? And why does he hide his identity? Based on the anime/manga Bleach by Tite Kubo.
1. No Reserves

The heavy patter of his footsteps rang loudly in his ears as he ran. His breath came in huge gasps, which he muffled as best as he could, though his lungs screamed for air.

His eyes darted about wildly, straining to catch the telltale glimpse of black cloth or the gleam of a drawn sword.

He could sense several others following him, but they were still far behind him.

_Now is the time._

Finally he reached the spot. As promised, it was there. A gigai, a false body, his only hope of blending into this world. As he slipped into its confines, a thought came to him unbidden.

"Now I will never have to face them again."

At first he pushed the thought away, hating the reminder of his cowardice.

Then he welcomed the memories, and the pain that came with them.

For the second time, he saw his trembling sword point at his most trusted friend. His friend, the traitor, betrayer of all Soul Society.

He watched as the man turned to face the deadly point of his zanpakutou, his glasses flashing in the moonlight. "Why do you point your sword at me?" he asks, his own blade staining the ground with the dripping blood of his comrades. "I am your friend."

"You are no friend of mine!" he shouts, futilely attempting to steady his grip. "You have murdered your fellow shinigami and have betrayed all we fight for!"

"Then kill me," his once-friend says seriously. "Run your blade through my heart and save Soul Society from its destruction." He calmly spreads his hands wide, exposing his unprotected chest. "I won't stop you."

He began to lower his zanpakutou. What was he doing? Not even Kuchiki-taichou could stop this man, even with the legendary Bankai that none had ever seen before. He could never hope to defeat this man in his life, yet here he had the perfect opportunity to end his plans before they even began.

But he was unable to take it. How could he? Was he really foolish enough to think that he could murder his best friend in cold blood the way he murdered so many others?

"Taichou, why do you hesitate?" says the one beside him. "Take it! Take this chance! Kill Aizen now before he gets away!"

His trembling hands steady. "I CAN'T!" he roars, the conflict between his friend and his duty to strong to decide.

_**"I CAAN'T!"**_

The sickening sound of metal through bone reached his ears.

"W-why?" his partner gurgles through the blood that chokes his life away, hand outstretched toward his murderer's face.

_"Why?"_

He cannot answer.

He doesn't know either.

Aizen chuckles as the sword pulls free. "Now you are a traitor, just like me."

He doesn't know what to do.

So he runs.


	2. No Retreat

Exhausted and unused to the prison of a body, he leaned against a nearby building to catch his breath. It was true, he was a traitor. With his own hands, with his own blade, he killed a fellow protector of Soul Society to save Aizen.

Aizen, the traitor.

Aizen, the betrayer.

Aizen, his friend.

He was a fugitive now. He could never return. He could never draw his stained sword again.

May it rust in its sheath forevermore.

Never again would he wield his blade against another.

Never.

From deep within his guilty soul his zanpakutou whispered, but he shut it out. For all eternity he would run, discarding everything he held dear.

Even his name.

A woman began to walk past the alley where he hid, but she suddenly stopped. Silently he begged her to keep going, to leave him, but she turned and walked directly toward the place where he lay, bleeding from unseen wounds.

Her copper curls bounced as she bent down.

"Are you all right?" she asked kindly.

At first he wondered who she was speaking to, but then he remembered. He was no longer invisible to normal humans.

It was a discomforting thought.

"I--I'm fine," he said, struggling to use a human voice.

How clearly her face showed her doubt! It seemed so long ago since he had been able to show any emotion so honestly. "You don't look fine to me," she remarked. Tilting her head in a curious manner, she continued to question him. "What's your name?"

That's right, he was without a name. He needed a new name, a name as black and as heavy as his soul. He must never forget.

"Isshin," he answered without hesitation. "Isshin Kurosaki."

Isshin.

One heart.

One death.


	3. No Regrets

In the years that followed, time both sped and slowed. The years crawled by at a speed that shamed lightning, and Isshin relished every moment of them.

Masaki, the woman he met on his first night as a human, became his wife, and they had three children together.

It was quite interesting, being a father. Children tended to do the things you least expected. They were more difficult to predict than any opponent he had faced.

There was Karin, always protecting little Yuzu.

And Ichigo, so cheerful around his mother, had grown sullen and withdrawn since his mother died. It was as if he had become an entirely different person, burning with a secret need to protect those he loved. He was still the same way, even now that he had become a shinigami.

Yes, he knew. He always knew. He had suspected that his own power might affect the children in some way, and as he watched his firstborn son grow up, his suspicions were confirmed.

He started the hospital as a penance for his inability to perform his duty to help lost souls in the old way, the way he knew best, the way of a shinigami. What a suprise it was when he discovered that his son saw his dead patients as clearly as the living ones!

It was hard to wach his son do what he could not, to be on the front line of the never-ending battle against the Hollows, and though Ichigo didn't know it at first, the battle against Aizen. It was hard to watch him battle alone, never knowing that he had an ally where he least expected. It was harder still to watch him reattain his power, knowing that his only son was condemned to battle the enemies inside his mind as well as outside.

It was a situation Isshin was all too familiar with.

He loved his son too much to let him fight without what little assistance he could give, so he broke his vow to never again use his powers as a shinigami by providing Ichigo with a simple protective charm.

Now I have broken it twice, he thought wryly as he faced his opponent, zanpakutou resting casually in one hand. Not even this act could erase the darkness from the dull shine of his sword, but this time he could not just stand by.

"Kon, don't tell Ichigo about what you see here today."

He looked up at the arrancar towering above him, its show of strength weak compared to the power he knew.

"Now is not the time."

* * *

**Dedicated to manga chapters 187 and 188.**


End file.
